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Found this article. Good piece on how the 4-3 hybrid we'll be using works.

http://www.seahawks1...hybrid-defense/

I'm listening to 1010xl right now, and there was a caller on the 10 second pop-off that brought up a good point: everytime you hear about Mike Mularkey you hear about what a good guy he is, not what a good coach he is. That's something I've been thinking about for a while about this organization.....too many nice guys, not enough football players. Not many of them have off the field incidents, and are real stand up guys, but watching them play they just lack passion.

Granted, you see it every now and then, like the defense showed yesterday, but there's no attitude. There's no "Hey, look what I just did to the other team" type of guys if you will. Playing with no swagger. This falls on Gene Smith, but I won't get into that. But I feel for this team to even begin to make progress, there needs to be an infusion of new blood, with the mindset of making a big play EVERY play. Play with confidence, swagger, and when you make a play celebrate all you want.

You see it from winning teams, the Patriots, Packers, Seahawks, 49ers, Ravens, etc. Blackmon and Babin are good starts, and Landry shows it (ironically a former Raven). But aside from Posluszny, I don't see any impact from these good guys. Time to get back to playing with an edge and getting the crowd at Everbank excited. After all, that's what the glory days were like.....

I see a ton of problems with this team. In my eyes, not any one area deserves all or majority of the blame for the 1-3 start. Let's try to see what needs to be fixed.

1. Playcalling - The offensive playcalling has been offensive to say the least. I don't feel the coaching staff is doing a good enough job of putting our players in the best position to succeed.

The focal point of the offseason has been to "rebuild" Blaine Gabbert. I like the direction he's headed in, but I feel after 4 weeks of regular season games it's now time to play to the strengths of our offense. Gabbert took snaps primarily from the shotgun in college: why not try to make him more comfortable and run more 4 and 5 wide sets? Jones-Drew can still get his touches with draw plays and passes out of the backfield.

*Note: not saying become a college offense and abandon the run, but we need to start giving opposing defenses more to think about.

2. Personell Usage - somewhat of an extension of the first point, but I see some players who could be used more effectively. For starters, I think Mike Thomas should be used more on returns, especially with his diminished role in the offense. Rashean Mathis is past his prime, but he still holds value for this defense. I'd like to see Derek Cox shadow the other teams best receiver, similar to Darelle Revis, and let Mathis, Ross and Middleton alternate between the #2 and nickel spots.

Also: Russel Allen and Kyle Bosworth have proven to me they are too inept to be starting NFL linebackers. Maybe use Brandon Marshall and Julian Stanford more?

3. Get Playmakers the Ball Early and Often - even if nothing is changed scheme-wise, MJD, Blackmon, and Lewis all need to be fed early. Mojo is the best player on the team and is having a good season thus far; I was disappointed to see us completely abandon the run this week.

Marcedes is a chain-mover and a redzone threat. With the injuries to the O-line he's been doing more blocking, but I feel he can still be part of the offense with delayed block routes and shorter routes over the middle.

Blackmon is a beast, but he needs to get going. We saw this past week that once he gets in a groove he can be a weapon at the receiver position. He's 2nd on the team in catches, but he's capable of much more. We need to find ways to get him in single coverage; he's very dangerous one-on-one.

Anyway these are just my thoughts, boring day at work. What improvements do you think need to be made to have more success in the 2nd quarter of the season?

StubHub shows 1759 available tickets for Sunday's game against Cincy. They have them going for as low as $14! No reason not to fill EverBank on a day honoring Freddy T!

I'm watching it now on NFLN, and the first quarter wasn't bad at all. Needs some improvement, but after one quarter it was 3-0.

Offensively, we need Laurent Robinson to come alive, MJD to return, and the O-Line to stay healthy. None of these things are unrealistic expectations. Jennings has been more than servicable in the starting role, with Jalen Parmele and Montell Owens providing nice depth. Justin Blackmon has firmly established himself as "The Guy" i te passing game, and that can only help Robinson and Mike Thomas. Gabbert, while some may argue "does not look like an elite QB", has not made many mistakes, is standing tall in the pocket, completing a respectable 61% of his passes, and has shown a knack for completing the 3rd down pass to move the chains. All of these are things to be excited about.

Defensively, I feel our depth is lacking. The first teamers played decent; not dominant but not blatantly awful. Rashean still has a way to go in recovering. Derek Cox MUST stay healthy. He is our best defensive back. Needless to say we've missed Daryl Smith. It'd be nice to have Clint Session healthy, but it doesn't sound too good. However, Jeremy Mincey has been a constant irritant to opposing QB's this preseason, and he appears to be entering his prime. Andre Branch has been a nice addition at the ofher defensive end position, a nice compliment to Mincey. Again, depth is my only concerned. Our 2nd and 3rd team defense has repeatedly gotten shredded when looked at in comparison to the starters. But if our key starters can get and remain healthy, I believe we'll be fine defensively.

As far as special teams goes, Anger is indeed The Banger. However, our coverage unit must perform better. Josh Scobee concerns me... I feel a contract=poor performance year coming on... I hope I'm wrong. Mike Thomas looks best when he's returning kicks.

Overall, we've had far more positive than negative this preseason. Actually watching this Ravens game, the final score doesn't match up with what my eyes see. I see a talented, competitive football team that has the tools to be a surprise team this year. Go Jags.